''Ship of Fools'' is a 1965 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Stanley Kramer Stanley Earl Kramer (September 29, 1913February 19, 2001) was an American film director and producer, responsible for making many of Hollywood's most famous "message picture, message films" (he would call his movies ''heavy dramas'') and a libera ...

, set on board an

ocean liner An ocean liner is a passenger ship primarily used as a form of transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships). Ca ...

bound to Germany from Mexico in 1933. It stars a prominent

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast to ...

of 11 stars —

Vivien Leigh Vivien Leigh ( ; 5 November 1913 – 8 July 1967; born Vivian Mary Hartley), styled as Lady Olivier after 1947, was a British actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice, for her definitive performances as Scarlett O'Hara in ''Gon ...

(in her final film role),

Simone Signoret Simone Signoret (; born Simone Henriette Charlotte Kaminker; 25 March 1921 – 30 September 1985) was a French actress. She received various accolades, including an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, a César Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a ...

Jose Ferrer Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. The name was popular during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods. * Jose ben Abin * Jose ben Akabya *Jose the Galile ...

Lee Marvin Lee Marvin (born Lamont Waltman Marvin Jr.; February 19, 1924August 29, 1987) was an American film and television actor. Known for his bass voice and premature white hair, he is best remembered for playing hardboiled "tough guy" characters. Alth ...

Oskar Werner Oskar Werner (; born Oskar Josef Bschließmayer; 13 November 1922 23 October 1984) was an Austrian stage and cinema actor whose prominent roles include two 1965 films, '' The Spy Who Came in from the Cold'' and ''Ship of Fools''. Other notable ...

Elizabeth Ashley Elizabeth Ann Cole, known professionally as Elizabeth Ashley (born August 30, 1939) is an American actress of theatre, film, and television. She has been nominated for three Tony Awards, winning once in 1962 for '' Take Her, She's Mine''. Ashle ...

George Segal George Segal Jr. (February 13, 1934 – March 23, 2021) was an American actor. He became popular in the 1960s and 1970s for playing both dramatic and comedic roles. After first rising to prominence with roles in acclaimed films such as ''Ship o ...

, Jose Greco, Michael Dunn,

Charles Korvin Charles Korvin (born Géza Kárpáthi, November 21, 1907 – June 18, 1998) was a Hungarian-American film, television and stage actor. He was also a professional still and motion picture photographer and a master chef. Korvin was born in P� ...

and

Heinz Ruehmann The H. J. Heinz Company is an American food processing company headquartered at One PPG Place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded by Henry J. Heinz in 1869. Heinz manufactures thousands of food products in plants on six contin ...

. It also marked

Christiane Schmidtmer Christiane Schmidtmer (24 December 1939 – 13 March 2003) was a German actress, fashion model, nude model, and memoirist. Biography Early life Christiane Schmidtmer was born in Mannheim, Germany, to Gertrud and Jakob Schmidtmer on Christmas ...

's first U.S. production. ''Ship of Fools'', which was based on

Katherine Anne Porter Katherine Anne Porter (May 15, 1890 – September 18, 1980) was an American journalist, essayist, short story writer, novelist, and political activist. Her 1962 novel ''Ship of Fools'' was the best-selling novel in America that year, but her sho ...

's 1962 novel of the same name, was highly regarded, with reviewers praising the cast's performance but also noted the movie's overlong (for 1965) runtime. The film was nominated for eight

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

in 1966, including for

Best Picture This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

, Best Actor for

Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress awar ...

for

, and Best Supporting Actor for Michael Dunn. It won for Best Art Direction, Black-and-White and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White.

Introductory comments by Michael Dunn

"My name is Carl Glocken and this... is a ship of fools. I'm a fool and you'll meet more fools as we go along... this tub is packed with them. Emancipated ladies... ball players... lovers... dog lovers... ladies of joy... tolerant Jews... dwarfs... all kinds... and who knows... if you look closely enough, you may even find yourself on board."

Plot

The action of the film takes place almost entirely on board a passenger ship in 1933, between

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

Mexico and

Bremerhaven Bremerhaven (, , Low German: ''Bremerhoben'') is a city at the seaport of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It forms a semi-enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the Riv ...

, Germany. Most of the scenes unfold on the First Class deck or among the upper middle-class passengers, but the ship is carrying 600 displaced workers, far more than the ship is certified to carry and they're assigned to squalid conditions in

steerage Steerage is a term for the lowest category of passenger accommodation in a ship. In the nineteenth and early twentieth century considerable numbers of persons travelled from their homeland to seek a new life elsewhere, in many cases North America ...

. They are all being deported back to Spain by the order of the Cuban dictator,

Gerardo Machado Gerardo Machado y Morales (28 September 1869 – 29 March 1939) was a general of the Cuban War of Independence and President of Cuba from 1925 to 1933. Machado entered the presidency with widespread popularity and support from the major polit ...

. Many passengers bound for

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

are happy, some are apprehensive, while others downplay the significance of fascist politics. The ship's medical officer, Dr. Schumann, takes a special interest in , a countess from Cuba who has an opiate addiction which he reluctantly accommodates with prescriptions. She is being transported to a Spanish prison on the Canary Island of

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...

. Her sense of doom is contrasted with the doctor's initial determination to fight the forces of oppression, embodied by his insistence that the people in steerage be treated like human beings rather than cargo. The doctor conceals having a heart condition. His sympathy for the countess soon evolves into love, though both realize it is a hopeless passion. Selected passengers are invited to dine each night at the captain's table. Some are amused and others offended by the anti-Semitic rants of a German businessman named Rieber who – though married – begins an affair with Lizzi. The Jewish Lowenthal is not invited and is seated at a side table with a

dwarf Dwarf or dwarves may refer to: Common uses *Dwarf (folklore), a being from Germanic mythology and folklore * Dwarf, a person or animal with dwarfism Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Dwarf (''Dungeons & Dragons''), a humanoid ...

named Glocken and the two bond over their sense of social exclusion. Later a passenger named Freytag is shocked to find himself blackballed from the Captain's Table when Rieber learns Freytag's wife is Jewish and after an angry public outburst, he too is re-seated at the side table. Here Lowenthal counsels Glocken regarding tactical accommodation to the Nazis from people like Rieber, stating that Germany has been good for the Jews and the Jews have been good for Germany, "We are Germans first and Jews second...There are nearly a million Jews in Germany. What are they going to do, kill all of us?" Others aboard include an American couple, David and Jenny. Jenny is infatuated with David, who is disconsolate at his lack of success as a socially committed artist and feels stifled by Jenny's needy dependence. Mary Treadwall, a divorcée, drinks and flirts. She is on a quest to recapture her lost youth while in Paris, but the men who take an interest in her she rejects as unworthy. Bill Tenny is a former baseball player with a drinking problem, angry the way his career never took off. Passengers are entertained nightly by a troupe of

flamenco Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and ...

musicians and dancers, whose leader pimps the women in the troupe, while other passengers regularly drink themselves to oblivion. One young heir to a fortune loses his virginity to one of the flamenco dancers, who treats him with gentleness. The ship arrives in Spain where the displaced workers from steerage disembark. Here, after an emotionally painful farewell with the doctor, is forced to exit the ship under Civil Guard escort. Upon arrival in Germany, the remaining passengers depart the ship. The doctor dies before the ship reaches

and his body is unloaded in a coffin. At the disembarkation, which seems like a parade, most characters show they will behave as though it is 'business as usual.' The last passenger to leave the 'Ship of Fools' is Glocken, who speaks directly to camera, as he did in the opening minutes of the film. Glocken asks the film's audience if they are thinking "What has all this to do with us?" (meaning the passengers). "Nothing" he adds and exits into the crowd.

Cast

as Mary Treadwell *

as La Condesa *

as Rieber *

as Tenny *

as Dr. Schumann *

as Jenny *

as David * Jose Greco as Pepe * Michael Dunn as Glocken *

as Capt. Thiele *

as Lowenthal *

Lilia Skala Lilia Skala (née Sofer; 28 November 1896 – 18 December 1994) was an Austrian-American architect and actress known for her role in the film '' Lilies of the Field'' (1963), for which she received critical acclaim and an Academy Award nomination ...

as Frau Hutten * Barbara Luna as Amparo *

as Lizzi * Alf Kjellin as Freytag *

Werner Klemperer Werner Klemperer (March 22, 1920 – December 6, 2000) was an American actor. He was known for playing Colonel Wilhelm Klink on the CBS television sitcom ''Hogan's Heroes'', for which he twice won the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in ...

as Lt. Huebner *

John Wengraf John Wengraf (23 April 1897 – 4 May 1974) was an Austrian actor. Early years Wengraf was born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary. Career Wengraf became a matinee idol in the 1930s, and was director of the Vienna State Theatre. He emigrated to Brit ...

as Graf * Olga Fabian as Frau Schmitt * Gila Golan as Elsa * Oscar Beregi as Lutz * Stanley Adams as Hutten *

Karen Verne Kaaren Verne (6 April 1918 – 23 December 1967) was a Germany, German-born actress, long based in the United States. Sometimes billed as Karen Verne, she was originally a stage actress and member of the Berlin State Theatre. Life and career Ve ...

as Frau Lutz * Charles de Vries as Johann * Lydia Torea as Pastora * Henry Calvin as Fat Man *

Peter Mamakos Peter Mamakos (December 14, 1918 – April 27, 2008) was an American film and television actor. Early life Mamakos was of Greek descent. Mamakos' father owned Pilgrim restaurants in New England. Mamakos was sent to California to scout lo ...

as Religious Man * Paul Daniel as Carlos * David Renard as Woodcarver * Rudy Carrella as Ric * Silvia Marino as Rac * Anthony Brand as Guitarist

Songs

Music by Ernest Gold
Lyrics by Jack Lloyd *"Heute abend geh'n wir bummeln auf der Reeperbahn" ("Tonight we're going for a stroll on the

Reeperbahn The Reeperbahn () is a street and entertainment district in Hamburg's St. Pauli district, one of the two centres of Hamburg's nightlife (the other being Sternschanze) and also the city's major red-light district. In German, it is also nickn ...

") *"Irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann" ("Somehow, somewhere, sometime")

Production

Katherine Anne Porter's novel ''

Ship of Fools The ship of fools is an allegory, originating from Book VI of Plato's ''Republic'', about a ship with a dysfunctional crew. The allegory is intended to represent the problems of governance prevailing in a political system not based on expert kn ...

'' was published in 1962. The essayist and short story author's only novel was the culmination of a 20-year-long project that was based on her reminiscences of a 1931 ocean cruise she had taken from Veracruz to Germany. Producer David O. Selznick wanted to purchase the film rights, but

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...

owned the property and demanded $400,000. The novel was adapted for film by

Abby Mann Abby Mann (December 1, 1927 – March 25, 2008) was an American film writer and producer. Life and career The son of Russian-Jewish immigrants, Mann was born as Abraham Goodman in Philadelphia. He grew up in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. D ...

. Producer and director Stanley Kramer, who ended up with the film, planned to star Vivien Leigh but was initially unaware of her fragile mental and physical health. The film proved to be her last film and in later recounting her work, Kramer remembered her courage in taking on the difficult role, "She was ill, and the courage to go ahead, the courage to make the film--was almost unbelievable."Steinberg, Jay
"Articles: Ship of Fools."
''Turner Classic Movies''. Retrieved: September 3, 2022. Leigh's performance was tinged by paranoia and resulted in outbursts that marred her relationship with other actors, although both Simone Signoret and Lee Marvin were sympathetic and understanding. In particular, during one scene shoot, she hit Lee Marvin so hard with a spiked shoe, that it bruised his face. At the conclusion of filming, screenwriter Mann reportedly threw a party for almost the entire cast and crew except Gila Golan, whose performance Mann was reputedly not happy with.

Reception

Although well received by audiences, ''Ship of Fools'' was looked at by some reviewers as a ''

Grand Hotel A grand hotel is a large and luxurious hotel, especially one housed in a building with traditional architectural style. It began to flourish in the 1800s in Europe and North America. Grand Hotel may refer to: Hotels Africa * Grande Hotel Beir ...

'' (1932) afloat, a film which had often been imitated. "Preachy and melodramatic" was another criticism, although the cast was universally praised.

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' saw the film as much more, "Stanley Kramer has fetched a powerful, ironic film ... there is such wealth of reflection upon the human condition in ''Ship of Fools'' and so subtle an orchestration of the elements of love and hate, achieved through an expert compression of the novel by Mr. Kramer and his script writer, Abby Mann, that it is really not fair to tag it with the label of any previous film. It has its own quiet distinction in the way it illuminates a theme." He also singled out the work of Oskar Werner.Crowther, Bosley
"Review: Ship of Fools".
''The New York Times'', July 29, 1965. Retrieved: October 10, 2013. In a similar vein, ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' noted, "Director-producer Stanley Kramer and scenarist Abby Mann have distilled the essence of Katherine Anne Porter's bulky novel in a film that appeals to the intellect and the emotions." The film was banned in Franco's Spain because of its anti-fascist stance."Huelva homenaje hoy a los hermanos Salao, Justo y Carmen"
/ref> On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, ''Ship of Fools'' holds a rating of 64% from 22 reviews.

Awards and honors

''Ship of Fools'' won

for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White ( Robert Clatworthy,

Joseph Kish Joseph Kish (June 14, 1899 – March 14, 1969) was an American set decorator. He won an Academy Award and was nominated for four more in the category Best Art Direction. He worked on 130 films between 1942 and 1966. Selected filmography Ki ...

) and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White (

Ernest Laszlo Ernest Laszlo, A.S.C. (born Ernő László; April 23, 1898 – January 6, 1984) was a Hungarian-American cinematographer for over 60 films, and was known for his frequent collaborations with directors Robert Aldrich and Stanley Kramer. He w ...

). Leigh won the ''L'Étoile de Cristal'' for her performance in a leading role.Bean 2013, p. 279. Marvin won the 1966

National Board of Review The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered an early harbinger of the film awards season that culminat ...

Award for male actors, while Werner received the 1965

New York Film Critics Circle The New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) is an American film critic organization founded in 1935 by Wanda Hale from the New York ''Daily News''. Its membership includes over 30 film critics from New York-based daily and weekly newspapers, magaz ...

Award."Awards: Ship of Fools (1965)."
''IMDb.''Retrieved: October 11, 2013. The film was nominated for

Best Actor in a Leading Role Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporatio ...

(Oskar Werner), Best Actor in a Supporting Role ( Michael Dunn) and

Best Actress in a Leading Role The Academy Award for Best Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year. ...

(Simone Signoret). In addition, the leading and supporting cast was nominated for

British Academy of Film and Television Arts British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

(BAFTA) and

Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

s. Other nominations included Best Costume Design, Black-and-White (

Bill Thomas William Marshall Thomas (born December 6, 1941) is an American politician. He was a California Republican Party, Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1979 to 2007, finishing his tenure representing California's 22 ...

and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium."Awards: Ship of Fools".
''The New York Times''. Retrieved: October 10, 2013. The film is recognized by

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Leade ...

in these lists: * 2005:

AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores Part of the AFI 100 Years... series, AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores is a list of the top 25 film scores in American cinema. The list was unveiled by the American Film Institute in 2005. John Williams has the most scores in the top 25, with three ...

– Nominated

Media

The film has been issued on VHS, laserdisc and DVD. The film's standalone DVD release is an

open matte Open matte is a filming technique that involves matting out the top and bottom of the film frame in the movie projector (known as a ''soft matte'') for the widescreen theatrical release and then scanning the film without a matte (at Academy rat ...

1.33:1 transfer with no supplements. The film was later reissued in widescreen with supplements in a Stanley Kramer box set from

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (abbreviated as SPHE) is the home video distribution division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. Background SPHE is responsible for the distribution of the Sony Pictures lib ...

. Currently, the film is also available in a budget-priced two-disc, four-movie collection DVD licensed from Sony to Mill Creek Entertainment. All four films are presented in their original theatrical aspect ratios and are anamorphically enhanced. The film has been released on Blu-ray in a double feature pack with the film ''

Lilith Lilith ( ; he, Wiktionary:לילית, לִילִית, Līlīṯ) is a female figure in Mesopotamian Mythology, Mesopotamian and Jewish mythology, Judaic mythology, alternatively the first wife of Adam and supposedly the primordial she-demon. ...

'' via Mill Creek."ship of Fools DVD".
''CD Universe''. Retrieved: October 11, 2013.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Andersen, Christopher P. ''An Affair to Remember: The Remarkable Love Story of Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy''. Glasgow, Scotland: William Morrow & Co., 1997. . * Bean, Kendra. ''Vivien Leigh: An Intimate Portrait''. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Running Press, 2013. . * David, Catherine. ''Simone Signoret''. New York: Overlook Press, 1995. . * Epstein, Dwayne. ''Lee Marvin: Point Blank.'' Tucson, Arizona: Schaffner Press, Inc., 2013. . * Porter, Katherine Anne. ''The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter''. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1979. . * Porter, Katherine Anne. ''Ship of Fools''. New York: Back Bay Books, Revised edition 1984. . * Walker, Alexander. ''Vivien: The Life of Vivien Leigh''. New York: Grove Press, 1987. .

External links

* * * * *
Original soundtrack of music from ''Ship of Fools''
{{Stanley Kramer 1965 films 1960s psychological drama films American black-and-white films American psychological drama films 1960s German-language films 1960s Spanish-language films Columbia Pictures films Films scored by Ernest Gold Films directed by Stanley Kramer Films produced by Stanley Kramer Films set in 1933 Films set on ships Films whose art director won the Best Art Direction Academy Award Films whose cinematographer won the Best Cinematography Academy Award Seafaring films 1965 drama films 1960s English-language films 1960s American films